A Comparative Study of the Response of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare, Mill) Plants from Egypt and China to Spraying with Benzyladenine (BA)

Fennel plant (Foeniculum vulgare, Mill.) is one of most widely used plants in food and medicine. Our study aimed to show the response of fennel plants from Egypt and China planted in Egypt to foliar application of benzyladenine (BA) at various concentrations; control, 50, 100 and 150 ppm. The obtained results indicated that treated fennel plants with BA resulted in a significant increase in the vegetative growth, number of umbels/plant, fruit, yield and oil yield per plant and feddan as well as main components, total phenolic contents and antioxidant activity of essential oils compared to untreated plants. In general, the application of benzyladenine was more effective on Egyptian fennel plants than that of Chinese plants. Egyptian fennel plants gave higher values of growth, fruit yield, oil percentage and oil yield than Chinese plants. However, the major components, TPC and antioxidant activity (DPPH %) had higher values in Chinese essential oil than Egyptian essential oil. The highest values of all studied parameters were obtained by using BA at 100 ppm. GC–MS analysis of the volatile oils showed that the major components were trans-anethole followed by fenshone, ?- pinene and D-limonene, respectively for both essential oils. 100 ppm of BA gave the highest values of trans-anethole content and radical scavenging activities of oils. Therefore, we concluded that spraying fennel plants with 100 ppm BA can be used for obtaining higher vegetative growth, fruit and quantity and quality of oil.

A HPTLC Method for Determination of Anethole in Essential Oil, Methanolic Extract of Foeniculum vulgare and Commercial Herbal Products

A rapid and feasible method of HPTLC is standardized for quantification of anethole in essential oil’s extract and from herbal formulations of fennel seed. The developeddensitometric HPTLC method was performed to estimate the existence of anethole in the essential oil, extract and herbal formulations of fennel with the optimized concentration of hexane: Ethyl acetate (8:2%, v/v, mobile phase) on glass coated silica gel 60 F254plates (20 × 10 cm) scanned with the absorbance of λ260nm under densitometric condition. The Linearity of regressions revealed a satisfactory relationship between peak area and concentration of anethole in between the range of 100-600 ng/spot. This reliable method was validated as per the ICH guidelines to fulfill the necessary parameters such as accuracy and robustness. The amount of anethole in essential oil (0.098 ± 0.002%),extract (0.101 ± 0.004%)and three herbal formulations A (0.024 ± 0.004%), C (0.019 ± 0.002%) whileanethole is not detected in B formulations from fennel seed was completely estimated by the developed method. The standardized methods and its validation gave new insights of HPTLC based detection and quantification of anethole in other aromatic plants as well as in other pharmacological formulations

Volatile oil of Croton zehntneri per oral sub-acute treatment offers small toxicity: perspective of therapeutic use

ABSTRACT Croton zehntneri Pax & K. Hoffm., Euphorbiaceae, or "canela-de-cunhé" is used in the Northeast Brazil to treat several diseases. Leaves and aerial parts of C. zehntneri are rich in volatile oil of high potential therapeutic. This study aimed to investigate volatile oil systemic toxicity after per oral treatment in rats. Volatile oil characterization (gas chromatography and mass spectrometry) showed 85.7% anethole and 4.8% estragole. Male Wistar rats (116-149 g) were treated with volatile oil (250 mg/kg p.o.) during ten weeks and evaluated for the following parameters: survival; food and water intake; body mass; absolute/relative organs weight; hemogram; plasma biochemical dosage; organs morphology. Volatile oil did not alter animal water and food consumption or the relative/absolute weight of most organs, but animals gained less weight. Volatile oil did not alter function biomarkers of pancreas, kidney, heart or liver, but increased plasma gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (liver biomarker) and decreased uric acid (kidney biomarker). Although volatile oil had caused discrete morphological alterations in some organs, it did not induce architectural changes in these organs. In conclusion, the sub-acute per oral treatment with volatile oil no longer than ten weeks in rats offers small toxicity at doses below 250 mg/kg.

Protective effect of trans-anethole on PC12 cell injury induced by sodium azide / 中国药理学通报

Aim: To investigate the protective effect of trans-anethole on the PC12 cell injury induced by sodium azide. Methods: PC12 cells were exposed to sodium azide with concentration ranged from 9 ∼ 54 mmol · L-1. The survival rate of the cells was determined by CCK-8 assay. The cell morphology was detected with the inverted microscope; the apoptosis of cells was detected by Hoechst 33258 staining; the content of LDH, MDA levels and antioxidant enzyme activities of SOD were determined using the assay kits according to the manufacturer's protocol. Results PC12 cell injury induced by sodium azide presented a dose-effect relationship. The PC12 cell viability was not changed when treated by irans-anethole for 48 h. Pretreatment of PC12 cells with 10 μmol · L-1 and 60 μmol · L∼ trans-anethole for 8 h could obviously reduce cell injury, reduce LDH leakage and MDA level, as well as increase the antioxidant enzyme activities of SOD induced by sodium azide. Conclusions: Trans-anethole exerts significant protective effect on PC12 cell injury induced by sodium azide. The protective mechanism might be executed by increasing the activities of antioxidant enzymes.

Anethole reduces oxidative stress and improves in vitro survival and activation of primordial follicles

Primordial follicles, the main source of oocytes in the ovary, are essential for the maintenance of fertility throughout the reproductive lifespan. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports describing the effect of anethole on this important ovarian follicle population. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of different anethole concentrations on the in vitro culture of caprine preantral follicles enclosed in ovarian tissue. Randomized ovarian fragments were fixed immediately (non-cultured treatment) or distributed into five treatments: α-MEM+ (cultured control), α-MEM+ supplemented with ascorbic acid at 50 μg/mL (AA), and anethole at 30 (AN30), 300 (AN300), or 2000 µg/mL (AN2000), for 1 or 7 days. After 7 days of culture, a significantly higher percentage of morphologically normal follicles was observed when anethole at 2000 μg/mL was used. For both culture times, a greater percentage of growing follicles was observed with the AN30 treatment compared to AA and AN2000 treatments. Anethole at 30 and 2000 µg/mL concentrations at days 1 and 7 of culture resulted in significantly larger follicular diameter than in the cultured control treatment. Anethole at 30 µg/mL concentration at day 7 showed significantly greater oocyte diameter than the other treatments, except when compared to the AN2000 treatment. At day 7 of culture, levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were significantly lower in the AN30 treatment than the other treatments. In conclusion, supplementation of culture medium with anethole improves survival and early follicle development at different concentrations in the caprine species.

Use of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Analysis of Fennel Essential Oil

A simple and rapid method based on proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was developed for determination of trans-anethole content in fennel essential oil. Spectra of pure trans-anethole, of the pure essential oil of fennel, and of the pure oil of fennel with thymol internal standard were recorded. The signal of H-1/ was used for quantification of trans-anethole. This proton signal is well separated in the proton magnetic resonance spectrum of the compound. No reference compound is needed and cheap internal standard was used. The results obtained from spectroscopic analysis were compared with those obtained by gas chromatography. Additionally, the developed method was used for determination of the type of vegetable oil used as a carrier in commercial products, which cannot be quantified as such by gas chromatography. This study demonstrates the application of proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as a quality control method for estimation of essential oil components.

Ameliorating effect of new constituents from the hooks of Uncaria rhynchophylla on scopolamine-induced memory impairment / 中国天然药物

AIM@#To study the chemical constituents and their anti-amnesic effect from the hooks of Uncaria rhynchophylla.@*METHODS@#The isolation of compounds was performed by chromatographic techniques and their structures were identified on the basis of spectral analysis. Their ameliorating effects on scopolamine-induced memory impairment in vivo using a Morris water-maze task and passive avoidance task system were evaluated.@*RESULTS@#Activity-guided fractionation of the total extracts resulted in the isolation of four constituents, trans-anethole (1), p-anisaldehyde (2), estragole (3), and 3-oxo-olean-12-en-28-oic acid (4), which were found for the first time from this plant.@*CONCLUSION@#Compound 1 exhibited a better memory enhancing effect than tacrine, a positive agent, at the same dose in the passive avoidance test and a similar property in the water-maze test, and its action may be mediated, in part, by the acetylcholine enhancing cholinergic nervous system.

Simultaneous Determination of Anethole Trithione and Its Metabolite in Plasma of Beagle Dogs by HPLC / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To establish an HPLC method for the determination of anethole trithione(AT)and its metabolite 4-hydroxy-anethole trithione(ATX)in plasma of beagle dogs simultaneously. METHODS:Protein in plasma was deposited directly using acetonitrile and analyzed by supernate. The separation was performed on Diamonsil ODS-C18 column with a mobile phase canodn sAisTtiXng woefr em ectohmanpolel tealnyd swepaaterar(ted8 0w∶i2t0h)ouat t ian teflrofewr ernactee . oTf h1e. 0r emteLn?timoni nt-im1 we iwtha sth 5e. 5d emteicnt iaonnd w 3a.v4e mleinng trhe sopfe c3t4iv6e nlym. .T RheE SliUneLaTr Sr:anAgTe were 0.254~3.392 ?g?mL-1(r=0.999 9)for AT with average recovery of(93.89?2.39)% and 0.125～1.664 ?g?mL-1 for ATX (r=0.999 8)with average recovery of(96.28?2.83)%. The intra-day RSD and inter-day RSD of AT were 0.83%～4.11% and 0.71%～4.51% while that of ATX were 0.55%～1.23% and 1.74%～3.92%,respectively. The detection limit of AT in human plasma was 0.254 ?g?mL-1 and that of ATX was 0.125 ?g?mL-1. CONCLUSION:It is proved that established method is simple,accurate and reproducible for plasma concentration determination of AT and ATX in plasma of beagle dogs.

Clinical Observation of Shenmai Injection in Treatment of Primary Sjogren Syndrome / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To observe the clinical effect of Shenmai injection for primary sjogren syndrome.METHODS:61 patients were randomized to receive anethole trithione (control group,n=29) or anethole trithione and Shenmai injection (treatment group,n=32) respectively with 15 days as a course of treatment.RESULTS:The total effective rate was 68.96% for control group and 90.63% for treatment group.There were 3 cases of abdominal discomfort ordiarrhea in control group,and no serious ADR was detected in treatment group.Significant difference was noted between two groups (P

Anethole Trithione for Primary Sjogren's Syndrome:Clinical Observation of Curative Effect / 中国药房

0.05). CONCLUSION: Anethole trithione has proved efficacy for primary Sjogren's syndrome including xerostomia and xerophthalmia.

Study on Foeniculum Vulgare Mill as Penetration Enhancer for the Permeation of 5-Fluorouracil / 中成药

Objective: To study the effect of volatile oils from Foeniculum Vulgare Mill, anisaldehyde, anethole and water extracts on the percutaneous penetration of 5 fluorouracil. Methods: With Valia Chien horizontal diffusion cell and HPLC method to observe the effect of volatile oils of Foeniculum Vulgare Mill, anisaldehyde, anethole on the percutaneous penetration of 5 fluorouracil. Results: The volatile oils of Foeniculum Vulgare Mill, anethole, anisaldehyde possessed the high promoting action on percutaneous absorption of 5 fluorouracil, and their enhancement ratio are 7.14, 4.17, 9.54, respectively. Conclusion: The volatile oils of Foeniculum Vulgare Mill, anethole, anisaldehyde enhance the skin permeation of 5 fluorouracil effectively.